Holiday Highway Congestion Eases Across Korea as Seoul-Bound Traffic Builds
Traffic on South Korea’s major expressways began easing Friday afternoon after a busy start to the Hangeul Day holiday, although congestion toward Seoul was expected to peak in the early evening.
Highway congestion across South Korea began to ease Friday afternoon after heavy traffic marked the start of the three-day Hangeul Day holiday, while motorists returning toward the capital were warned to expect delays into the evening.
The Korea Expressway Corporation estimated that 5.62 million vehicles would travel nationwide during the day. It projected 440,000 vehicles moving from the Seoul metropolitan area to other regions and 410,000 heading into the capital region.
As of 4 p.m., the estimated journey from the Seoul tollgate to Busan was five hours. Travel to Ulsan was expected to take four hours and 40 minutes, while the projected times were four hours to Daegu, four hours to Gwangju, three hours and 46 minutes to Mokpo, three hours to Gangneung and two hours and 30 minutes to Daejeon.
Outbound travel times had fallen significantly from the morning, but congestion was increasing on some routes leading back toward Seoul. The estimated trip to the capital was four hours and 30 minutes from Busan, four hours and 10 minutes from Ulsan, three hours and 30 minutes from Daegu, three hours and 50 minutes from Gwangju, four hours and 20 minutes from Mokpo and two hours and 30 minutes from Daejeon.
Several bottlenecks remained on major expressways. Southbound traffic on the Gyeongbu Expressway was slow for about 13 kilometers between the Cheonan junction area and the vicinity of the Cheonan Hoduwageja rest area. Another roughly five-kilometer delay was reported between the Oksan rest area and the Oksan Hi-Pass interchange.
In the Seoul-bound direction, congestion affected about six kilometers from the Oksan junction to the Cheongju rest area and around five kilometers between the Yangjae area and Banpo. Drivers also faced a roughly 10-kilometer slowdown on the eastbound Seoul-Yangyang Expressway between the Namyangju tollgate area and the vicinity of Seojong. On the Seohaean Expressway, Seoul-bound traffic was backed up for about 10 kilometers from Balan to the Paltan junction.
The expressway operator forecast that congestion heading away from the capital would largely clear between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Seoul-bound traffic was expected to be at its heaviest between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. before easing between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. The forecast left travelers returning later in the holiday’s first day facing several more hours of uneven traffic conditions.